Houston Rockets Pitched Josh Smith on a Pairing With Dwight Howard

Dwight Howard’s free agency has the potential to create enormous changes across the NBA landscape, and the Houston Rockets would love nothing more than to be the catalyst of such transformations. They reportedly pitched fellow free agent Josh Smith on the idea of possibly playing alongside Howard next season. Dwight, meanwhile, is off to the mountains to think about the Los Angeles Lakers and other desperate suitors for his services. Per USA Today: “If free agent center Dwight Howard ultimately decides to sign with the Houston Rockets, he may not be the only big-name free agent heading that way. According to two people with knowledge of the situation, the Rockets’ Monday meeting with free agent forward Josh Smith in Los Angeles included a discussion about a possible partnership with him and his childhood friend from Atlanta in Howard. Smith has long been known to be on the Rockets’ radar, but he is not viewed solely as a backup plan to Howard should he decide to sign elsewhere and the possibility remains of another superteam being created with Howard and Smith joining franchise centerpiece James Harden. […] There would be serious hurdles to this sort of deal, but the Rockets may be able to get it done if they could convince Smith’s former team, the Atlanta Hawks, to take part in a sign-and-trade that would clear the necessary salary cap space to sign both players. To that end, a CBSSports.com report on Sunday indicated that the Rockets have been discussing possible trades involving center Omer Asik and point guard Jeremy Lin with other teams. Both players are scheduled to earn $8.3 million in each of the next two seasons, meaning they could possibly be moved as a way to free up the funds to bring Howard and Smith together.”